


August 18th

by Mildlyannoyedscoundrel



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: 1966 Batman TV Series, Birthday, F/M, Homesick Sophie Foster, Keefe Sencen is a Bad Influence, Sandor Deserves a Raise, Sokeefe - Freeform, Spontaneous Visit to the Forbidden Cities, Teleportation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28406949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mildlyannoyedscoundrel/pseuds/Mildlyannoyedscoundrel
Summary: Sophie is hit with a bout of homesickness when she accidentally realizes it's her birthday.Keefe decides to do something about it.Sandor deserves a raise.
Relationships: Sophie Foster/Keefe Sencen
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	August 18th

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my WIPs for a while now.  
> Be warned I probably won't be updating it any time soon.
> 
> That being said, I always really loved the idea of Keefe being able to physically experience Sophie's emotions along with her. It seems like maybe she'd feel less alone knowing that even if no one can relate to what she's gone through, at least someone can know how it feels. So I tried to include a bit of that in this fic. Enjoy!
> 
> -Zee
> 
> P.S. I couldn't figure out how to make italics work on AO3 so "word" means spoken and 'word' means transmitted.

“That was good but next time you’re gonna want to clip the vowel’s a little bit more and raise the pitch just slightly during the middle of the phrase,” Keefe said.

“Ugh,” Sophie groaned and flopped back onto her bed. “Why does mimicking have to be so difficult?”

“C’mon Foster. I know you’re used to being Ms. Perfect-At-Everything—you don’t have to feel so embarrassed it’s fine—but mimicking isn’t a natural talent. It’s something that takes practice.”

“I know, I know.” She tried to say in an impression of Dex’s voice.

“Now that one was completely off. You’ve got to be at least four times squeakier.”

“Oh shut up.” Sophie elbowed him but couldn’t contain her laugh.

“I’m just messing around. You know there’s no one in this world I adore more than my man the Dexinator, bes–”

“I swear to God if you say ‘besides you’ I’m going to inflict you with so much fear you won’t be able to sleep without a nightlight for a month.”

“...Is it weird that I find that kind of attractive?”

Sophie threw a pillow at his head, but he managed to duck at the last moment and run over by Vertina so she couldn’t throw anything else at him—if something were to accidentally hit Vertina Sophie would be dead for—so she decided to do it the old fashioned way and began chasing him around the room. As she chased him around the room, he kept pivoting and dodging like a basketball player. 

It was admittedly a bit impressive.

“Admiration and annoyance,” Keefe laughed. “Looks like I’ve got the perfect combo.”

With that snarky comment, she managed to snag the back of his cape and channeled all her energy into pulling him back. He fell to the floor with a thud and she put her foot on his chest, smiling victoriously.

“I probably should have known better than to challenge the Mysterious Ms. F shouldn’t I?”

“Yes you should have.” Sophie laughed and helped him up.

“Now that we’re taking a break from mimicking anyway, why don’t we–”

“Watch more batman.”

“Hey! You know the rules of telepathy. Get out of my head.”

“I wasn’t in your head. You just ask for the exact same thing every time we hang out.”

“It’s a guy who dresses up as a bat and fights crime with his underwear wearing sidekick!” Keefe threw his hands into the air. “It’s hilarious!”

“It’s not underwear it’s a leotard,” Sophie insisted. She’d forgotten how many times they’d had this argument.

“With the amount of leg he’s showing off, that’s underwear.”

A couple of months ago Sophie had made the mistake of showing Keefe the 1966 Batman TV Series and now he was obsessed. Sadly, since Keefe had no way of accessing human media on his own that meant Sophie was forced to endure episode after episode of cheesy costumes, cheesy acting, and even cheesier fight scenes. 

Keefe couldn’t get enough.

Sophie got out her iPod and they sat leaning against her bed, watching the tiny screen. She knew Keefe couldn’t actually understand most of what was going on, but she had taught him how to read the onomatopoeia screens that popped up during fight scenes, and now whenever one came up he would excitedly whisper the word along with it. It was absolutely hilarious… and admittedly a little adorable.

As they watched a notification popped up at the top of the screen. Sophie went to swipe it away as she normally would until she realized what it said.

Keefe clutched his heart and gasped. “What was that? I don’t think I’ve ever felt a mood drop that fast.”

“It’s nothing.”

“How many times do I have to tell you you can’t lie to an Empath? Especially not about something like this.”

Sophie took a deep breath, the image of the calendar notification burned deep into her brain.

‘Happy Birthday!’

Her lip wobbled and Keefe gently wrested the iPod out of her hands and pulled her into a hug. As she buried her head into the crook of his neck tears spilled over. She hadn’t felt this homesick since she first moved to the Lost Cities. Hadn’t felt this stabbing pain in her chest feel quite so sharp since she’d found out Grady and Edaline’s adoption request had been revoked. This was a pain so few in the Lost Cities had felt that she knew almost no one in their world (besides maybe Wylie) would be able to understand it; the pain of knowing you were never going to see your family again. 

She felt wetness on her shoulder and realized Keefe was crying along with her. She tried to pull away—not wanting to force Keefe to endure her pain with her—but he pulled her back into his lap. It was strangely nice to have someone to cry with. Nice to know that even if no one could understand her pain–at least some could feel it. 

“Shhh. Don’t feel guilty,” Keefe said. “Just cry. Just cry for a while longer.”

She took his advice and relaxed into the sobs. Embracing the pain and misery she felt. After a while, her tears subsided, and she slipped off Keefe onto the floor beside him, leaning heavily against him as she didn’t quite feel strong enough to support herself.

“You going to tell me what that was about?”

“You wouldn’t get it,” Sophie said, her voice rough.

“I know. It can still be nice to get it out though.”

Sophie sighed. “It’s August 18th.”

“Is that a human thing?”

“Kind of. August 18th is my birthday. The last couple times it was my birthday I was either being held captive by the Neverseen, or running from the council, or whatever mess was going on at the time so I didn’t really notice it go by. I know elves don’t really celebrate birthdays what with the infinite lifespans and all but to humans, it’s kind of important.”

“What makes it important?”

“Nothing really. I guess there are just a bunch of traditions surrounding it.”

“Like what?”

“Well normal humans would get gifts and cake and invite over all their friends to have a party, but I never really had any friends so I couldn’t do that.”

“What’d you do instead?”

Sophie smiled sadly. “My parents would leave Amy with a babysitter, and we’d go out. Just the three of us. We’d go to the bookstore and I’d get to buy three books, and then they’d take me to this little pizza parlor near my school and we’d get pizza and play on the arcade games, and my dad would always beat me at Ms. Pacman.”

Keefe looked confused.

“Pizza is a food and Ms. Pacman is a videogame.”

“What’s a videogame?”

“It’s a game you play by pressing buttons and moving a little joystick to make a character displayed on a screen move. I’m not describing it very well but you’d love them.”

Keefe sighed longingly. “Humans come up with the craziest things.”

“Yeah. They’re nothing if not inventive.”

Suddenly Keefe began squirming around, an excited look on his face. This couldn't be good.

“Read my mind,” Keefe whispered.

Oh, this definitely couldn't be good.

“What?”

“Just do it.”

Sophie was suspicious, but too curious to say no. She stretched out her mind to his, focusing on only the thoughts at the forefront of his mind that he was projecting as to not disrupt his privacy.

'Good. I didn't want Gigantor to overhear.' 

'Overhear what?'

'Why don’t we go?'

'Go where?' Sophie transmitted.

'To the pizza parlor. I know it won’t be the same, and you won’t have your parents with you but maybe it’d be kind of nice. A remembrance thing like Grady and Edaline do with the bracelet.'

'Keefe we can’t just leap to the Forbidden Cities just because we want to.'

“Of course we can’t—I have yet to steal a blue pathfinder, sadly—but we could teleport.”

'Sandor would catch us before we made it to the cliffs.'

'I have my methods.'

"Keefe."

Keefe grabbed her hands and waited till she reached her mind out again. 'I know it’s risky, and I know you don’t want to get caught, but c’mon. We pretty much kidnapped you and now you’re not even allowed to go back to the forbidden cities? I don’t care what the councilors say, you deserve to see your old home whenever you want to—and don’t say you don’t want to I felt the excitement when I mentioned visiting the pizza parlor.'

“You didn’t kidnap me.”

“You’re right. Fitz kidnapped you.”

Sophie punched him in the arm.

“Fitz didn’t kidnap me either. I came of my own free will.”

'Yeah, but I know you miss it. I can feel how much you miss it. Just this once Sophie. Take a risk. Live a little.'

“This is exactly why Grady doesn’t like you," she hissed.

“That and I have better hair than him.”

Sophie snorted. She knew she should say no. Knew that this was an unnecessary risk that she would certainly get in a lot of trouble for, but God she missed it so much. It had been nearly 4 years since she’d had a piece of pizza, and any time she’d spent visiting the Forbidden Cities had been spent in some form of peril. It’d be so nice to be able to visit her old home for fun. Plus, she sincerely doubted Keefe would actually be able to escape Sandor’s watchful gaze, so she supposed there was not hurt in trying.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

Keefe let pumped his fist into the air and let out a whoop.

“I knew I’d corrupt you someday,” he whispered. Then he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door. “Just follow my lead.”

Sandor gave them a suspicious glare as they burst out into the hallway.

“Hey, Gigantor. I’m taking Foster out to the ocean. Care to come with?”

“It is my sworn duty to go wherever Ms. Foster goes, though I do find it suspicious that you’d invite me along. What are you up to?”

Keefe gasped dramatically and clutched his heart. “Me? Up to something? Never!” He gave Sandor his telltale smirk. “Seriously though, Foster was feeling upset so I offered to walk her through some guided meditations. I’ve been studying the connection between the heart and the emotional center of the brain in my Empath sessions, and I have a theory you can influence that connection through meditation. This is the perfect opportunity to test out that theory.”

Sandor grumbled. “I suppose since it’s for homework I can escort you, but you better not try anything.”

“I won’t. Scouts honor.”

Sophie tried not to roll her eyes at the fingers Keefe had crossed behind his back, not to mention the fact that she doubted either Keefe or Sandor had any idea what a boy scout was. It was just one of the human phrases that her friends had unknowingly picked up from her.

When they got to the cliffside gate, Sophie licked the small strip on the lock, glad that Dex had updated it to open to her DNA. As soon as they stepped through the gate, Sophie expected Keefe to grab her and try to run (something that definitely wouldn’t work since Sandor had gotten pretty good at grabbing him by the back of his collar before he could make it very far). Instead, Keefe calmly walked closer to the edge of the cliff and gestured for Sophie and Sandor to join him. 

“Hey, Gigantor. Do you mind joining in on this? I’d like to see if it has an equal impact on elves and goblins.”

“I suppose.”

Keefe instructed them to put their hands on their stomachs and listen to the sound of the waves below, breathing in as the tide came in and out as it slipped away. He kept going like this for a while, instructing them on different breathing patterns, and body positions, reminding them to stay mindful and to focus on the connection between heart and brain. It was actually extremely relaxing, and when Sophie glanced over to Sandor she saw the tall goblin looking completely zen—his eyes closed and shoulders relaxed.

“Now we’re going to drop our hands to our sides and take three deep breaths,” Keefe said. 

“One.” 

Sophie filled her lungs up with cool seaside air.

“Two.” 

She caught Keefe giving her the tiniest of winks.

“Three.” 

Keefe rushed forward and tackled her off the cliff.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it and sorry for that cliffhanger (cliffjumper?). 
> 
> Like I said I probably won't be updating this any time soon, if ever, but who knows? If you'd be interested in another chapter or two feel free to comment and yell at me for leaving it like this.
> 
> Also does anyone know how to make words italicized on AO3? I try copy-pasting it from google docs but it never works :(


End file.
